WB to provide $1.3bn to back Pakistan’s social sector development

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank is to provide $1.34 billion to Pakistan to support its initiatives in social protection, climate change, agriculture and food, governance and human capital development and governance sectors.

The $1.34 billion includes a grant of $128 million. An agreement to this effect was signed in Islamabad on Friday. This financing will also support the government’s initiatives in disaster and climate risk management, improving infrastructure for resilience, food security, and governance sectors.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar said this continued and enhanced support shows the confidence of international financial institutions on the progress and reforms being taken by the present government.

The minister reiterated the federal government’s commitment to extend all possible support to the provincial governments to address the financing needs necessary to overcome the development issues.

Ministry of Economic Affairs Federal Secretary, Noor Ahmed, signed the financing agreements on behalf of Pakistan while representatives of governments of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan signed their respective project agreements online. World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine signed the agreements on behalf of the World Bank.

During the ceremony, the Government of Pakistan and the World Bank signed the following seven project agreements. Crisis-Resilient Social Protection Program (CRISP) of $600 million: the objective of the program is to support the development of a more adaptive social protection system that will contribute to future crisis-resilience among poor and vulnerable households in the country. Locust Emergency and Food Security Project, costs $200 million of the project, through a strengthened and better coordinated federal-provincial government system, will introduce and implement a set of customised activities, such as conducting locust surveillance and controlling operations, rehabilitating livelihoods of affected rural communities and farmers, strengthening and operating the Food Security and Nutrition Information System, emphasising climate-smart agriculture measures and women’s participation, to effectively address the desert locust outbreak and to reduce vulnerability to climate change in the long-term.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Capital Investment Project allocated $200 million. The objective of the project is to improve availability, utilisation and quality of primary healthcare services and elementary education services in four districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that have been hosting refugees i.e Peshawar, Nowshera Haripur and Swabi.

Sindh Resilience Project to spend $200 million. The objective of the project is to mitigate flood and drought risks in selected areas and strengthen Sindh’s capacity to manage natural disasters and public health emergencies.

The project will support the establishment of the Sindh Emergency Service, including the development of six divisional headquarters operational facilities, provision of equipment, and training of personnel.

The project will also support the construction of 35 small rainwater-fed recharge dams in drought-prone regions of Sindh including Karachi, Jamshoro, Thatta, Dadu and Nagarparker in Tharparkar districts.

Balochistan Livelihood & Entrepreneurship and Balochistan Human Capital Investment Projects, $86 million: these projects aim to promote employment opportunities for rural communities; achieve sustainability of enterprises and improve utilisation of quality health and education services in various districts of Balochistan.

Supporting Institutional Interventions for Management of Refugees Project, $50 million: the objective of the project is to improve organizational and institutional capacity for managing refugees and host communities.